It's simple. Both of these items have made their way into my sketchbook. The assignment today was to draw a ball moss and whatever found object Dr. Moore had in the front of the class room. I knew that the ball moss would drive me absolutely insane. So whatever I did choose for my found object had to be something starkly different. 

Lucky for me, I got my hands on this smaller piece of ball moss. It's scientific name is Tillandsia recurvata.  It is in the bromeliad family which also includes pineapples. I guess what they say is true; being related doesn't mean you're going to look anything alike. It is also native to Florida. 

The hardest thing about drawing this was definitely making sure that I got the off shoots just right. Despite there not being many, drawing this took me the majority of the class. I know I'm getting exasperated when my nose starts to twitch, which happened several times. Despite what the scale says, the specimen weighed 0.3 grams. I wasn't able to snap a picture before it went back down to 0, but I tried weighing it a few times and the number that would come up is 0.3. Additionally, it was 7.14375 cm.
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I decided to treat myself and draw a bone after the stress of drawing the ball moss. Apparently, I had chosen the thoracic vertebrae of a bottlenose dolphin. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is the backbone, or rather a piece of it. 

I forgot to measure it's length (oops!), but it does weigh 21.7 grams. I honestly had a blast with this object. I enjoyed looking for the spacial relationships within the bones and drawing the shapes I saw. I think when you approach art with the question "what shapes do I see?", it makes the process of drawing more enjoyable and, for lack of a better word, easier. I wanted to get back into the swing of painting so I decided to see how much work I could get done with the time I had left, which was, give or take, 30 minutes. 

I didn't think to put the bone on a white piece of paper to prevent the distortion of color, but I did account for the distortion in my rendering. 

I thought to myself, if I could paint this in 30 minutes, what would the ball moss look like if I took time to color it in? So naturally, I went back to my room and did just that. With colored pencil and ink, it took me at least three solid hours. But here is the final outcome. 

Before I sign off, I guess I should show you what materials I used. I hate writing things down tool wise, so enjoy these pictures instead.

Good bye for now!

​Word count: 475

This right here is called a Blolly. It's scientific name is Guapira discolor. To go into more depth, in order from class, subclass, order, and family respectively, it is a Magnoliopsida, Caryophyllidae, Caryophyllales, and Nyctaginaceae.

The really cool thing about the arboretum at the Honors College is that it is split into specific habitats. The blolly is found in the Tropical Hardwood Hammock Habitat, and is in fact native to Florida. It needs moist soil to thrive and live its best life. It also must have sun, or at least partial sun, which makes it a great Floridian plant. It also provides food to other organisms via producing red berries that birds eat as well as providing covering. From what I could tell, this specific tree didn't seem to have any berries. 

I hope you're impressed by all that information, because after that, I failed to actually identify the other plants I drew. I was inspired to look down and draw what I saw. I wanted to explain the surroundings and the colors, and before I knew it, time was up. Don't get me wrong, the idea of figuring out what these plants were in my mind's eye, but not at the forefront. It happens. Let me show you what I mean.

I must say that when we were going around and looking at each other's work, someone brought up the fact that they used the app iNaturalist to identify their plant. I didn't think of doing that...I'll go back and do that when I can, but until then, I bid you all adieu.
​Word Count: 357

Last week, was the first class. Was I scared? Was I anxious? That's debatable. Although I would call myself an artist, I haven't actually drawn anything in a while. Nowadays, I find myself more comfortable with a paintbrush in hand. Even then, I find myself taking a more illustrative approach to my work. When we were told that we would have to render realistically, I took a gulp. 
 
But, I''m getting ahead of myself. We started with talking about field research, keeping detailed notes, and signing and dating everything (especially in pen). From there, we started talking about the different shading techniques. Then came the packet.
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After awhile, this got tedious. This is where the fun began. To really test our skills, we were sent outdoors, and were told to render whatever piece of nature we got with the shading techniques about. Naturally, I went for a croton leaf in front of Student Resources (SR). 

A croton, scientifically known as Codiaeum variegatum, is also known as a rushfoil plant. It is a perennial evergreen shrub characterized by its bright colors including reds, greens, oranges, and yellows. It thrives in sun and warmer climates, so it is best grown in south and central Florida. However, this tropical plant is not native here. It is actually native to India and Malaysia. They also have a sap that excretes from the stem that apparently stains. I'm glad I avoided that. It also is not an edible plant. Here is a picture of the leaf I selected.

After getting to this point, I wasn't happy with the progress I was making. I wasn't feeling the best at the moment of this drawing. Sometimes, you have to start again, and see if you can do better, and so I did. I chose another croton patch that was a bit smaller closer to SR, and found the perfect leaf.

Doing so can give you better results than you ever hoped for. The final product was a croton leaf measuring in 7.3025 cm. What can I say? I'm proud of myself. 
Word Count: 344